State Department Fires Salvo of Strong Words After Taliban Salvo Kills Dozens in Afghanistan

The United States is the Superpower of Strongly Worded Condemnation. Noboby can match our power to seethe.

The State Department on Friday said it strongly condemned “barbaric” attacks in Afghanistan that left more than two dozen people dead or wounded, including children.

In one attack, four gunmen went on a shooting spree on Friday at the Serena Hotel in Kabul, killing nine people, including four foreigners and two children, reports say.

The hotel is considered one of the safest places to stay in Kabul.

In Jalalabad, Taliban fighters killed at least 11 people and wounded 22 in a separate suicide bomb attack on Thursday.

“The U.S. Embassy strongly condemns the recent senseless acts of violence against the police station in Jalalabad and the Serena Hotel in Kabul. The perpetrators of these acts have needlessly shed the blood of both Afghans and their international partners at a time when citizens are celebrating Nowruz and preparing to vote in historic elections,” the U.S. Embassy in Kabul said in a statement.

Yet even in our unmatched ability to scowl at great distances, our State Department manages to misunderstand what’s happening. The violence that the Taliban perpetrates is far from “sensenless.” It has a purpose. Does anyone at State want to venture a guess as to what purpose that might be?